00:02First came the floods, then the fuel, a tourism sector reliant on a three-month dry season braced for the
00:09worst.
00:10Fuel was hitting four bucks a litre in the centre. Everyone had heard about the massive flooding we had up
00:16here.
00:17A big market for us is grey nomads and people travelling up on the roads.
00:22Months on the Corroboree Billabong just south of Darwin, part of the largest wetland expanse in the country is still
00:29recovering.
00:30It feels realistically on all levels that everything's three or four weeks behind where it would normally be.
00:36The floodplains were so waterlogged and so high, it's just taken that extra time to drain out.
00:42Despite the challenges, there are still interstate visitors prepared to make the journey.
00:47We've been here before and we've been seeing jumping crocodiles, but it's good to come and see different aspects of
00:51the wetlands.
00:53And clearly all the travel, you know, fuel and everything hasn't stopped you travelling about.
00:57Thank goodness for planes.
00:59Others coming from further afield. This family all the way from China.
01:04Wonderful and so beautiful. They're in Australia. This is my first time in Australia.
01:09So I said, amazing. This amazing travel here. This is my first time in Darwin here. Wonderful trip with my
01:17big family. Unforgettable. Unforgettable.
01:20Another pair making the journey from Italy.
01:22It was amazing. This place is beautiful. We enjoy it really a lot.
01:27Despite the late onset, the numbers have been enough to make ends meet.
01:31It's sort of put enough coin, I guess, into people's pockets to allow us to work for another year and
01:35try it all again.
01:36And you know, I'm a born optimist and I think next year will be a cracking year.
01:41Paul's optimism going so far, he recently poured his money into another venture.
01:46The Mary River houseboats, which have been carrying travellers up and down the billabong for decades, had been struggling to
01:53stay afloat.
01:54I contacted the owner and expressed my interest in purchasing one. Not for a business, but for retirement.
02:02After buying one, Paul decided to go all in, purchasing the whole business.
02:07It really just felt a shame to see this business, it was iconic to the territory, disappearing, knowing how loved
02:13it was by locals.
02:1524 hours after being a happy man with retirement of one boat, I bought a whole business and I've still
02:19got to go and tell my wife that I've just spent another stack of money buying the rest of the
02:22business.
02:23Swimming against the tide in the hopes of a stronger future.
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